Could Google's targeted ads permeate every aspect of your life?

Posted 21 May 2014 - 08:35 PM

sincity

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If there's one thing Google isn't serving enough of, it's ads.

Thankfully the company might someday address that, if it follows through on a proposal that it might put ads on everything from thermostats and refrigerators to car dashboards, watches and glasses - a proposal it explained in a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

These everywhere-ads are currently hypothetical - or at least we have no proof that they're otherwise.

And a Google spokesperson told TechRadar that the letter "does not reflect Google's product roadmap." Hm.

The definition of mobile

So it seems some context might help, before you start looking at your thermostat sideways expecting to see an ad for whatever you last Googled.

The search company mentioned the possibility of putting ads on appliances and other unusual places to explain to the SEC why it shouldn't be required to disclose revenue generated from mobile devices, like Twitter, Facebook and other companies do.

Google said it doesn't make sense to single out mobile devices as their own category, since the definition of mobile is always evolving, especially as more and more household items turn smart.

And in fact, a Google spokesperson let us know that the company is "in contact with the SEC to clarify the language in this 2013 filing."

Explanations

Google said the content it could (hypothetically) displays on weird devices might not even be limited to ads.

"Our expectation is that users will be using our services and viewing our ads on an increasingly wide diversity of devices in the future," the company told the SEC.

But imagination is all it might be: "Nest, which we acquired after this filing was made, does not have an ads-based model and has never had any such plans," Google's statement to TechRadar explained. We'll see.